Watch Out Square: PayPal Here is Here

Allison Howen

Posted on 3.15.2012

PayPal has launched a competitor to Square called PayPal Here, which is a mobile payment solution that allows small businesses to accept almost any form of payment.

The service offers a free app and triangular thumb-sized card reader, which turns iPhones (and soon Android smartphones), into a mobile payment solution. It presents small businesses with more sales opportunities because merchants can accept payments by swiping cards in the card reader, scanning cards and checks with phone cameras or manually entering card information into the app. Additionally, merchants can use the app to send an invoice and setup payment terms.

PayPal also released a new version of its PayPal Mobile app for the iPhone, which is a consumer app that also complements PayPal Here. With the new update, consumers will be able to find nearby businesses that accept PayPal Here and then notify the merchant when they are ready to make a purchase. Then, merchants will easily be able to accept the purchase by using PayPal Here to reference the shopper’s name and picture.

“Helping small businesses grow and accept payments has been in PayPal’s DNA since its inception 14 years ago,” says PayPal’s vice president of mobile, David Marcus. “We’ve heard small businesses loud and clear. They don’t want to miss sales opportunities because they can’t accept the payment type that their customers want to use. They want quick access to their money, a reliable card reader, and one transparent, low fee to process these payments. I’m thrilled to launch PayPal Here because we’ve been able to bring all of these key features together into a product that’s so simple to use.”

PayPal Here merchants pay a flat rate of 2.7 percent for card swipes and PayPal payments. Additionally, all PayPal Here merchants receive a business debit card for quick access to cash, as well as one percent cash-back on eligible purchases. So, if the merchant uses the debit card for purchases, their transaction fees essentially come down to 1.7 percent.

PayPal Here also offers merchants PayPal’s fraud management capabilities and 24 hour live customer support, as well as the large following of more than 100 million customers from around the world that use PayPal already. Merchants that are interested in receiving a PayPal Here reader can sign up here (no pun intended).